2 North Country Wins

[JDeafv]

Age answered the Murray question pretty well, but I'll add that he's not a forward and should keep this in mind during the whole game, even when we are down one goal.

[Greg Berge]

Yes Murray sucks.  That's why Schafer plays him 35 minutes every night.  ::laugh::

"You never know what you've got till it's gone."  Have fun next year  crying about not having a dominant presence on defense when the other teams' best players are setting up in our zone.  Haven't seen a lot of that lately.  Hmm, wonder why?  Must just be the weather.  ::rolleyes::

[Melissa\'01]

FWIW - I agree with Age. Murray has been more of a disappointment than anyone else on the team this year.

Can he be physical? yes.

can he skate? no.

can he score? maybe - as long as his shots stop being so damn predictable. personally i think that his slap shot has lost a lot of its edge. combine this with the fact that the opposition knows precisely what his next offensive move is 9/10 times - a quick shot from the point - and we have definite problems in this area.

does he have a lot of potential? yes. he just needs to realize that he's not likely to be an all around player and thus his time would be better spent on the areas in which he can excel. grrr.

thus far this year he has let way too many pucks slip out of the offensive zone with no one behind to get it save himself - and we all know that that is a lost cause. grrrr.

all that said - the season is only half over. he can improve - and even if he doesn't the rest of the team seems to be doing well enough! :-D

will we miss doug's physical presence next year? hell yeah. but we won't miss it any more than we'll miss the scoring ability of Baby and Paolini, the strong defensive play of Mark McRae, the evasive skating and smooth stick handling of Matt McRae, the come from behind efforts of Palahicky and the hustle of T-Bell in the defensive end.  If I forgot a senior, my apologies.

sorry for the rant.

[gwm3]

Murray letting pucks slide out of the offensive zone is a new development this year???

In any case, I think the problem with Doug is probably that expectations are so much higher this year--what we expect of him, what he expects of himself, and what other teams do to respond to him.

[tml5]

I hate to butt in on the Murray bashing, but I think the complaints about Murray's shots being predictable and his woes on the point are a bit off base.

Cornell runs an umbrella style power play, which, as far as I know, is predicated on working the puck around the perimeter to set up quick shots from the points to get rebounds and deflections, or passes to the weak side, depending on which one the PK takes away.

Does Murray take a lot of quick shots from the point, particularly on the PP?  Yes, but that's what he's *supposed* to do.  Oddly enough, I haven't seen him getting blocked as much as Baby, but maybe I've just been watching the wrong games.  Murray has been missing the net a lot more this year than last, but he hasn't been missing badly enough to make a deflection impossible, so I think he's been doing just fine up there.

I think most of Murray's problems holding the puck in the zone stem from him trying to do too much against a defense that keys on him every second he's on the ice.  OTOH, for every time I've seen him let one by, I've seen him make at least one tremendous play to keep the puck in the zone and either create a scoring chance or break up a potential break for the other team.  And I haven't seen the opposition get too many chances the other way from his few miscues.  Again, maybe I've just been watching the wrong games.

I don't think Murray is the same kind of force that he was last year, but that may be for reasons that have nothing to do with him - or it may be because he's playing a slightly different role for the team this year.  Maybe he's not living up to overinflated expectations, or maybe he really does just suck, but I have a feeling that Cornell hockey fans will miss Doug Murray and his contributions more than the rest of the senior class, which is saying an awful lot.

[JDeafv]

This weekend Murray seemed LOST in the defensive zone over and over again.  Repeatedly he was stuck in front of the net looking for a man, and often times he would chase the puck along the boards forcing him to skate way out of the play, then deliver a weak hit on the man or get beat by a simple pass.  He was caught "puck watching" way too much.

All of his offensive woes were made worse by the fact that he wasn't playing good defense.  

Normally Doug does a very good job picking up a man, taking the body and winning the puck.  Virtually nobody on the team did that this weekend consistantly, except maybe Ben Wallace which is why he stood out so much this weekend.

[Ben Doyle 03]

Does Doug have a heavy shot. . .Yes
Does he take a ton of slappers from the point. . .Yes
Does he actually hit the net. . .Occasionally
Should he be taking some wristers for rebounds. . .Yes
Bottom line is. . .he needs to HIT THE NET!
(Tom, let me know if you find some one who is willing to step in front of a 100 mph slap shot;-))

We do run an umbrella power play and in that system when the puck is up top with Baby or Murray that means Sammy is down low in front of the net leaving  Mark and Ryan to collapse on those rebounds from the wings. . .take a freakin' wrist shot! He has one of the best wristers on the team but you wouldn't know it b/c he NEVER uses it. If he shot for rebounds once and a while we might score some more goals.

As for his woes not holding the zone, he should know when there is no one to cover for him and shorten his back swing from the point. This has been the cause of his troubles on the blue line since the day I first saw him play.

just my take on things:-)

[Jordan 04]

As for letting them fly from the blue line -- if that is a current criticism -- Muray has cut way down on that.  Over and over I've seen him fake the slapper in situations where he'd let it rip last year, pull it down, and work closer to the net.  I've actually been frustrated by this on some occasions, thinking that sometimes he passes up his great slap shot for a weaker wrister from only 3-5 feet closer.

[tml5]

Hey, Murray's slapshot is only 95, so fear shouldn't be a factor.  :-))

I agree that hitting the net is better than missing it, and if a wrister will be more effective it should be used a little bit more.  Maybe the coaches, and/or Murray himself, don't think that a wrister is so effective from up high, hence the slapshots.  Or maybe he feels like he hit the net plenty last year, so it's only a matter of time before he starts hitting the net this year.  One thing I've noticed - it seems to take him a little longer to get the wrister off without sacrificing a LOT of velocity, and when everyone on the PK is keying on you that makes a huge difference.  At any rate, I still don't think there's that much of a problem with his shot selection.  I'll let Jordan and Ben fight over whether or not the wrister is better than the big drive from the point.  

[Ben Doyle 03]

I'm just trying to say a wrister might be effective once and a while. Just throw it knee high at the net and look for the rebounds. If you hit his pads at about his knees there is nothing he can do but give up another shot opportunity.

Tom,
Question 1: A car is coming toward you traveling 100 mph. . .do you move?
Answer: YES!

Question :Now a car is coming at you traveling 95 mph. . .do you still move? Answer: YES!

[joking ;-)]


:-D Point. . .that's why we've got Sammy:-D

[tml5]

Well, I would certainly move, but now you know why I'm not an elite level hockey player.  Ok, that and the skating/size/ability thing.  

I don't disagree that throwing in a few more wristers could be more effective, I just disagree with those railing against Murray's shot selection - IMO it's not really that bad.  I guess my previous post was mostly pointing out that it might actually be harder to get a good wrister off from that position, hence the disproportionately high number of one-timers.  

However, since this is a discussion group, I have to take up a fully indefensible position, back myself into a corner, and result to calling you silly names.  Therefore, your opinions, regardless of how much I agree with them, are wrong.  Neener neener neener.  

(On that note, I think I should go to bed)